Hungry Caterpillar Cafe, Bedminster – new garden

I’ve been a reasonably regular visitor to Caterpillar ever since it opened a few months ago, and each time I go, I see a new improvement. The garden is a good sized square area, accessible via a baby-gated back door from the main play space. It’s covered in nice, soft astro-turf grass and has good seating benches for parents and kids.

There are a few small children’s favourites out there in terms of toys, a play house and slide, and a tunnel. There were also some new ride-ons to whizz about on. Tibbs loved exploring the toys, including the water and sand station.

My favourite part of our visit was the outdoor drumming workshop. The kids were having such fun trying out all Jeremy’s instruments.

The garden is a great addition to the cafe. Inside is a big space, and when it’s busy, it’s extremely buzzy and both me and Tibbs find it a bit full on sometimes. Because of the wide age-group appeal of Hungry Caterpillar, six-year olds are often sharing space with six-month olds, so the garden adds a brilliant extra dimension for families to spend time together playing. I think, for hot days, it might be good to get a sun canopy out there – I’ve seen these on holiday in Portugal at playgrounds we visited, and they work well. I imagine the plain brick walls won’t be staying bare for long, either, as the walls inside are filling up with jazzy artwork fast!

I also tried one of Melody and her team’s famous mezze platters for the first time whilst we were there, and I flippin’ loved it. A small platter was plenty for me and the baby to share and it was very fresh and tasty.

I’m looking forward to enjoying the Hungry Caterpillar garden all the way into the Autumn, especially once Tibbs can walk, it’ll be great for us.